UNICEF and the Global Goals

UNICEF is committed to doing all it can to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in partnership with governments, civil society, business, academia and the United Nations family – and especially children and young people.

At a glance: Nigeria

Newsline

From Boko Haram captive to children's teacher: Femi's inspiring story
BORNO STATE, Nigeria, 7 December 2016 – Last year, Femi's* father was sick. So sick, in fact, that Femi wanted to go and look after him. The 17-year-old left his school in the south of the country to travel to the north-east, to Borno state, where his father lived in a small village. Femi didn't anticipate being gone too long.

Modu’s big dreams: Back to school in north-east Nigeria
MONGUNO, Nigeria, 17 November 2016 – Modu Umar is 13 years old and when he grows up he wants to be a doctor. Or maybe a policeman. Or possibly a lawyer. He hasn't quite made up his mind yet, but it's clear this little boy from Monguno in north-east Nigeria has big dreams. And he knows he'll have to work hard to achieve them.

Meet the uprooted children and families of Borno State, Nigeria
BORNO STATE, Nigeria, 19 October 2016 – Since 2014, the escalation of the Boko Haram insurgency has caused insecurity and massive displacement in north-east Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. An estimated 2.6 million people are internally displaced – more than half of whom are children.

What next for Nigeria’s children?GWOZA, Nigeria, 23 September 2016 – Ajija is as frail as you possibly can be when alive. The four-year-old should be actively playing with friends but she can barely stand. When she is checked by a health worker, she is unsurprisingly registered as severely malnourished.

Life returns to parts of conflict-ridden Borno
GWOZA/KONDUGA, Borno, Nigeria, 29 August 2016 – The Mandara mountains appear ominously on the horizon through the cockpit window. Clouds hang over the ridge that cuts across Nigeria’s north-east border with Cameroon.

‘WASHComs’ drive change in northern Nigeria
JIGAWA STATE, Nigeria, May 2016 – In north-eastern Nigeria, 300 miles north of the capital city of Abuja, lies the village of Gidan Darge. Though the village is located in a dry, remote area, it is pioneering advances in water, sanitation and hygiene for the entire country.

A harrowing escape from Boko Haram in Nigeria
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, 11 April 2016 – What surprised me most about the little boys was that they refused to eat. Although they were obviously hungry and tired, all three of them turned away the bowls of rice that were offered to them.

In Nigeria, a family reunion and a new school
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, 13 January 2016 – School holidays were badly timed for 15-year-old Peter, who last month finally managed to enroll in school in Maiduguri, in north-east Nigeria – just six days before the end of the term. But all the same, this shy and intelligent boy with an engaging smile was delighted to be back at school and excited about starting classes again in the New Year.

“If I don’t help these children, who will?”
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, 17 September 2015 – The Dalori camp, just outside the north-east Nigerian city of Maiduguri, is teeming with an estimated 15,000 people who have been displaced by violent conflict in the area. Like most such places, it is not known as the most cheerful of destinations.

In Nigeria, saving lives and investing in the future
KANO, Nigeria, 3 September 2015 – Hajara Lawal is relieved to see her 6-month-old son Muhammad improving. He is on his second visit to the local health care centre in Kano, northern Nigeria, where there is a special clinic for children suffering from malnutrtion, and already her young son is a little stronger than before.

Education amid conflict in Nigeria
Children in Maiduguri, Nigeria, are devouring their lessons. They are packing into classrooms and practising their A-B-Cs and maths, a cohort of eager students deprived of an education and hungry to learn.

Koranic schools in Nigeria join the drive for universal education
NINGI, Nigeria, 15 January 2015 – Millions of children in northern Nigeria are not receiving a formal education. One way UNICEF is addressing the issue is to help traditional Koranic schools like Maiunguwa Shuaibu’s include basic subjects such as English and maths in their curricula.

In Nigeria, a partnership for improved sanitation, hygiene and safe water
BAUCHI, Nigeria, 15 January 2015 – As Jamila Nuhu, 25, replaces the cover of the plastic jug she has filled at a hand pump a few minutes’ walk from her home, she remembers how she used to walk long distances in search of water. A few years ago, she would have trekked hours in each direction. Today it takes five minutes.

In Nigeria, combining nutritional support and birth registration under one roof
KANO, Nigeria, 21 November 2014 – The waiting hall is crowded at the Magami Basic Health Centre, in the Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State, northern Nigeria. The clinic is filled with mothers seeking help for their children at the outpatient therapeutic programme (OTP) for severe acute malnutrition. Aisha Ahmadu, 30, mother of six, is there with her 9-month-old twins, Hassan and Hussain.

In Nigeria, texting to prevent Ebola
ABUJA, Nigeria, 13 October, 2014– When the recent outbreak of Ebola virus was first reported in Nigeria, Nne Orji was one of many Nigerians who took baths in saltwater, believing that it would help keep her safe from the disease. She even drank from the salt solution – a mythical cure that has cost the lives of a number of people.

In Nigeria, a message for maternal and child health
EPE, Nigeria, 15 August 2014 – As her number is called out, Nike Kolawole stands up and straps her 2-year-old son to her back and walks over to the nurse. The nurse registers her for antenatal care and gives her folate tablets, as well as vitamin A and deworming tablets for her son, Samuel, who is also tested for malaria.

Crowds turn up for polio vaccinations in Nigeria’s north-east
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, 26 June 2014 – Young women hold their little ones as they sit patiently on wooden benches, waiting their turn at a health camp that provides polio vaccination and much-needed health care in north-eastern Nigeria, where increasing violence has led to displacement of local populations.

In Nigeria, bringing the message of education for all
TORO, Nigeria, 13 June 2014 – Kasimu Limon Toro beams with pride as his 12-year-old daughter Nailatu talks about her dream: One day, she will become a doctor. “I will support her in this with all my heart, until the day I die,” Mr. Toro says.

Counsellors teach mothers the benefits of locally grown foods
BENUE STATE, Nigeria, 9 August 2013 – Sometimes, a nut changes everything. In Nigeria, it might even make the difference between life and death. In a country of more than 11 million children under 5 years who are stunted – a condition that diminishes a child’s physical and intellectual development and puts its survival at risk – many parents are unaware that many of the foods at their fingertips can benefit their children.

Polio survivors strive for a polio-free Nigeria
KATSINA STATE, Nigeria, 6 August 2013 – Karima Usman is 38 years old. Today, she struggles to peddle her tricycle with her hands as she navigates the rain-lashed bylanes of Yamma-II ward of the Katsina Local Government Area (LGA) in this northern Nigerian state.

The community-led sanitation revolution in Nigeria
BENUE STATE, Nigeria, 5 August 2013 – Women and men, just in from the fields with hoes still in their hands, and barefoot children sit in the shade under a tree. Betty Torkwase Ikyaator asks them to make her a picture of their village in a layer of sand on the ground. With pebbles and coloured paper, they place their homes, the church, the rivers, the roads and other landmarks. They don’t mark a clinic, market or primary school because they don’t have those things here in Mbanumbekem village in rural Nigeria.

Integrating services to scale up birth registration in Nigeria
KADUNA, Nigeria, 15 July 2013 – Rose Wisdom rocks her baby girl back and forth. Mami is only two weeks old and appears uncomfortable with the heat and the bustle around her at the Hope for the Village Child Foundation Centre in Chikun, on the outskirts of Kaduna in northern Nigeria.

A humble Nigerian carpenter rethinks latrines
BENUE STATE, Nigeria, 3 July 2013 – Lately, Martin Dewaun Iyo’s humble carpentry business has seen a buzz of activity in what is normally a slow trade in cabinets and doors. Mr. Iyo has invented a new product – a ventilated drop-hole cover for the latrine.

Nigeria battles a worsening malnutrition crisis
KATSINA STATE, Nigeria, 28 August 2012 - It’s 9 a.m., and already the soil is being scorched by the unforgiving sun. The landscape is bleached out with no shade. The only splash of color is provided by 10 yellow watering cans lined up neatly by the side of a muddy well. Next to them, Al Haji Yahaya and his young son are methodically filling them up with brown-coloured water from what is little more than a sandy hole.

Female teaching recruits are agents of change in rural Nigeria
KATSINA STATE, Nigeria, 1 August 2012- The first thing that strikes you is their sense of confidence. Women with faces framed by colorful headscarves hold dynamic discussions in a packed classroom at the Isa Kaita College of Education. They consider themselves to be “village girls” but there’s nothing ordinary about them.

Teaching the principles of good hygiene to school children
KATSINA STATE, Nigeria, 30 July 2012 – Nigeria has a vast coastline and river tributaries that irrigate the south, yet insufficient access to clean water contributes to millions of deaths every year. One in seven children will die in Nigeria before they reach the age of 5, many of them from waterborne illnesses.

Outpatient services save the lives of severely malnourished children in Nigeria
KATSINA, Nigeria, 20 July 2012 – The first rains have arrived in northern Nigeria. Tufts of guinea corn are peeking out from the soil. Farmers are optimistic that this year’s growing season will yield good results – yet hundreds of children are packed into a community clinic near Katsina, seeking treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

On World Polio Day, UNICEF launches new website focusing on global immunization strategies
NEW YORK, USA, 24 October 2011 – Following a dramatic 95 per cent reduction in polio cases last year in Nigeria, the disease is once again on the rise – in large part because of lingering community resistance to polio immunization. To address this resistance, the country recently launched the Polio Free Torch Campaign. Supported by the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) and a number of Nigerian Olympians, the campaign aims to mobilize wide support for the polio eradication efforts currently being made in Nigeria.

Community-led water and sanitation projects take root in Nigeria
CALABAR, Nigeria, 23 September 2010 – Esther Etowa’s lively face is quick to break into an engaging smile. Her deep voice can change from a comforting murmur into a boom that can be heard across the width and breadth of a village – a useful quality in Ms. Etowa’s work.

African Union leaders and international experts launch campaign to combat human trafficking
ABUJA, Nigeria, 8 April 2010 – An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked worldwide each year for sexual exploitation and cheap labor. Child trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry that affects every country in the world – either as a source of trafficked children or a destination for them – and the global economic crisis has only exacerbated this grave violation of human rights.

UNICEF and partners bring hope to children accused of ‘witchcraft’ in Nigeria
ESI-EKET, Nigeria, 2 July 2009 – Paul, a young man whose father heads a school, has been living at the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) centre in Esi-Eket for about two years now. His father visits him at the centre occasionally but is not willing to take him home due to the stigma associated with ‘child witches’.

Teaming up to fight polio with Niger and Nigeria's synchronized immunization
MARADI, Niger, 5 June 2009 – Aboubacar Sidikou used to be an active two-year-old, running after goats in the courtyard or playing hide-and-seek all day long with his brothers. Now, the once enthusiastic boy has now become very shy. He rests in the arms of his grandmother and suddenly does not pay attention to anyone anymore.

Partnering to roll back malaria in Nigeria's Bauchi State
BAUCHI, Nigeria, 22 April 2009 – In Nigeria, malaria caues the deaths of an estimated 300,000 children under the age of five die every year. On any given afternoon, the waiting halls at the Specialist Hospital – the biggest in Bauchi State – have been full of patients since early morning. If any of these children have acute malaria, they may die in 24 hours without prompt access to effective treatment.

Nigeria leads campaign to vaccinate 53 million children against polio
OGUN, Nigeria, 30 March 2009 – In the village of Madoga, trained community health workers from Nigeria and Benin Republic work together to reach all the children in the community. They are part of a mass campaign synchronised between eight West African countries that has aimed to reach more than 50 million children with the polio vaccine over the last four days.

Goodwill Ambassador Kanu Nwankwo promotes ‘Football for Hope’ in Lagos, Nigeria
LAGOS, Nigeria, 6 August 2008 – In the township of Agege, hundreds of excited children gathered to meet Nigerian football star and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Nwankwo Kanu. Nwankwo’s appearance marked the end of the first phase of ‘Project Excel’ – a joint venture of FIFA’s ‘Football for Hope’, Search and Groom Youth Development Centre and UNICEF.

A new strategy to improve primary health care in Garaku, Nigeria
GARAKU, Nigeria, 12 February 2008 – It is an overcast Wednesday afternoon in the town of Garaku in north-central Nigeria. Rita Jiriko, 23, dressed in a colourful blouse, patiently waits her turn on the veranda of the Garaku Primary Health Care Clinic. As she gently rocks the younger of her two children to sleep, she recalls an earlier visit to the health centre.

Community dialogue sessions advance bird flu education in Nigeria
OGUN, Nigeria, 26 October 2007 – Adefolu Olusoji is a retired civil servant and a poultry farmer in the sprawling slum community of Mowe. He was also among over 30 community members who participated in a recent open dialogue on avian influenza held at the Palace of Baale in southwest Nigeria.

‘Idols West Africa’ join the global AIDS campaign
ABUJA, Nigeria, 31 May 2007 – Timi and Omawumi, the two ‘Idols West Africa’ finalists of the current season, are not smiling. Their faces are serious and even sad, symbolizing the gravity of what they are doing – filming a special public service announcement about the effects of HIV/AIDS on children in the region.

Literacy empowers women and girls in Northern Nigeria
BABBAN KUFAI, Nigeria, 20 March 2007 – It’s a quiet Sunday in the Muslim community of Katsina, a northern state in Nigeria. While students at the local primary school enjoy their day off, more than 80 women are crammed inside one classroom, busy learning how to read and write, many for the first time in their lives.

Fight against polio in Nigeria focuses on community involvement
ILELA, Nigeria, 26 February 2007 – Though wrinkled and bent with age, Kabo Galdi has hands that are surprisingly steady as she drops oral polio vaccine into the mouths of children. The grandmother of six was one of the roving vaccinators mobilized for Nigeria’s ‘Immunization Plus Days’ last month.

Pre-school classes boost girls’ enrolment in northern Nigeria
KAZAURE, Nigeria, 24 November 2006 – Enrolment of girls in early childhood development (ECD) classes is booming in areas of northern Nigeria, where local government authorities, assisted by UNICEF, are using multiple strategies to get more girls into pre-school.

West and Central African nations join forces to end child trafficking
ABUJA, Nigeria, 7 July 2006 – A multilateral accord against the trafficking of women and children was signed here yesterday, as UNICEF and its partners spearheaded a joint ministerial conference of 26 West and Central African countries, representatives of European governments, the International Labour Organization and the UN Office against Drugs and Crime.

Mother-to-child HIV transmission can be reduced by over 90 per cent
ABUJA, Nigeria, 5 December 2005 – UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Rima Salah joined a panel of representatives from governments, civil society and other UN agencies in Abuja ahead of this week’s 14th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA). The group called for programmes which help prevent transmission of HIV between mother and child to be made more accessible.

Nigeria’s polio immunisation campaign takes off
LAGOS, Nigeria, 18 April 2005 – Nigeria has just completed the second round of its Polio National Immunisation Days for 2005. For the first time ever, vaccination teams were dispatched to the Lagos Murtala Muhammed International and Domestic airports in an effort to immunise children under five against polio. Nigeria hopes to reach 40 million children in this latest vaccination campaign.

The driving forces behind Nigeria’s fight against polio
KANO, 20 November 2004 - Hauwa Abubakar is 25 years old and a mother of three children. She lives with her family in Kano, Northern Nigeria. On a Saturday Hauwa leaves her home early in the morning. Her destination today is the Bamali Nuhu Medical Center and Hospital.

Kano’s 4.2 million children protected from polio
KANO, 3 August 2004 – The skies are clear and the morning sun is shining as the UNICEF team prepares for the long-awaited re-launch of polio immunization in Kano, Nigeria’s most populous state. After a one-year ban on immunization, the first drops of the vital polio vaccine will be administered to a child during a launch ceremony in Takai, 80 km from Kano city.